1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data server which manages state data indicating, in real time, the state of a data processing system or a data processing apparatus to be monitored and which sends the state data to a remote display system upon receiving a data retrieval request from the remote display system.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 24 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of a monitoring/control system including a plurality of conventional monitoring/control apparatuses disclosed in JP-A No. 2000-163122 entitled “Monitoring/Control Computer Built-in Data Management Apparatus”. In the figure, reference numeral 2a1 denotes a monitoring/control computer; S1 a facility/apparatus to be controlled; 4a1 a remote terminal; and 3 a general network. Reference numeral 5a1 denotes a data management apparatus composed of a data processing unit 10, a shared memory 11 for holding state data, and an input/output unit 12. Reference numeral B1 denotes a browser function included in the remote terminal 4a1.
The operation will be described below.
The remote terminal 4a1 issues a data transmission request through the general network 3, and the input/output unit 12 reads state data corresponding to the transmission request from the shared memory 11 and outputs it to the remote terminal 4a1 through the general network 3.
In this monitoring/control system, the monitoring/control computer 2a1 functions as a data server for returning state data of the facility/apparatus S1 to be controlled upon receiving a request from the remote terminal 4a1. However, since the state data is mapped to the shared memory 11, it is not possible to process the state data or add any association data to it.
FIG. 25 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the conventional monitoring/control system shown in FIG. 24. In the figure, reference numeral 35 denotes an interface program; 35a an interface unit for remote terminals; 35b a shared memory data setting/retrieval unit; 35c a file data setting/retrieval unit, and 51 a screen database storage unit.
The interface program 35 is made up of objects written in a Java®, which is an object-oriented programming language. However, the interface program 35 realizes only an input/output function for the shared memory 11 by use of objects. The program cannot process the state data or add any association data to it. It is easy to add a data processing function to an object included in the interface program 35. However, it is not so easy to specify a means for extracting a data processing result from the object to which the data processing function has been added.
FIG. 26 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a conventional service processing function monitoring apparatus disclosed in JP-A No. 8-77119 (1996) entitled “Service Processing Function Monitoring Apparatus and Method therefor”. In the figure, reference numerals 301 to 305 denote object instances (OIs) each acting as a component of a service processing function, while 200 to 204 denote OI monitoring objects (OIMs) each for monitoring whether an object instance is properly operating. Reference numeral 16 denotes an OI management system; 16a an OI operation data management function; 17 a communications service administrator; 18 a service management system; 19 and 20 service processing nodes; and 13 and 14 service execution control apparatuses.
To realize processing and communications services, the service processing function monitoring method employed by this service processing apparatus uses object-oriented software in which object instances exchange messages with one another under control of the OI management system 16, collectively implementing a desired processing function.
The operation will be described below.
Upon detecting an abnormality in one of the object instances 301 to 305, the OI monitoring objects 200 to 204 perform a check for diagnosing the abnormality in the object instance. The OI monitoring objects notify the diagnosis result to the OI management system 16 which then carries out service operation management based on the diagnoses result.
Thus, the service processing function monitoring method is characterized in that: object instances exchanging messages with one another collectively realize a desired service function; OI monitoring objects monitor the state of the object instances; and the OI management system 16 collects monitoring results to carry out service operation management. The OI management system 16, acting as a remote display system, retrieves data in the object instances through the OI monitoring object group functioning as a data server. However, this conventional method has a problem in that the data which can be collected by the OI management system 16 is limited to diagnosis data output from the OI monitoring objects, and it is not possible to retrieve data in the object instances and the OI monitoring objects as necessary. Another problem is that the OI monitoring objects send failure diagnosis results to the OI management system 16, unilaterally. It is desirable that the OI management system 16 can retrieve data at an arbitrary timing, for example, at certain intervals or when a predetermined event has occurred in the object instances. FIG. 27 is a block diagram showing a conventional real-time monitoring/display system disclosed in JP-A No. 6-195241 (1994) entitled “Real-Time Monitoring/Display Method and Computer System Using the Method”. In the figure, reference numerals 10, 14, and 18 denote an object A, object B, and object C, respectively, and reference numeral 52 denotes a table object. Reference numeral 32 denotes a CRT display; 34 a mouse; 36 a keyboard; 38 a type information registry; 44 a data analysis system; 46 a generic name graphic display creation system; 48 a generic name data capturing system; and 50 a name registry.
The generic name data capturing system 48 is a means for capturing specified performance data or another type of data of the object A10 by use of the type information registry 38 and the name registry 50. This technique is applied to object-oriented distributed computer systems in which the performance and the characteristics of each object is to be monitored and displayed without any knowledge of the object beforehand.
The operation will be described below.
The user selects a target object by specifying the object name by use of the mouse 34 or the keyboard 36 connected to the generic name data capturing system 48 and the CRT display 32. The generic name data capturing system 48 makes inquiries to the name registry 50 to find an object reference and to the type information registry 38 to check the object type of the target object, and calls the monitoring method 40 to obtain the result 42. Furthermore, the generic name data capturing system 48 periodically calls the monitoring method 40 to continue to obtain the result 42.
However, this method has a problem in that it is not possible to obtain the result 42 from an object not registered with the name registry 50, and the generic name capturing system 48 must continue to call the monitoring method 40 periodically in order to monitor changes in object data, making it impossible to handle an object structure.
In the conventional data server configured as described above, a remote display system includes an input/output function dedicated for a data processing system/apparatus to obtain its state data. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a remote display system for each data processing system/apparatus. Furthermore, changing the input/output function of a data processing system/apparatus necessitates a change in the input/output function of the corresponding remote display system, which is troublesome.
Another problem with the conventional data server is that state data which can be retrieved by a remote display system is limited to that predetermined by the data processing systems/apparatuses. Therefore, the remote display system cannot obtain an intermediate result of state data processing performed within a data processing system/apparatus, and to change this arrangement, it is necessary to change the input/output function of the data processing system/apparatus.
Still another problem with the conventional data server is that it is difficult to associate one piece of state data with another or associate state data with state data in another data processing system or data in a database. Therefore, it is not possible to handle information by means of association.